6 days ago

1 week ago

1 week ago

1 week ago

Morning Five: 08.19.10 Edition

A recent report by the AP determined that even though most states have laws on the books to prohibit unethical dealings between agents and athletes, enforcement in most places is almost nil. Texas is the one state that seems serious about the problem, having taken disciplinary action against 31 agents in the last two years. Twenty-four states, however, have yet to discipline a single agent in the decade since the Uniform Athletes Agent Act (UAAA) was passed in those jurisdictions. We’d like to say that we’re surprised by this, but we’re not — local prosecutors are strapped enough in dealing with violent criminals and con artists to worry about the occasional dirty agent. This is one reason why we’re pleasantly hopeful about the NCAA’s expansion of its basketball enforcement team. It remains to be seen, though, if this will actually have an impact.

Miami (FL) forward Adrian Thomas achieved the rarest of NCAA approvals yesterday, a sixth year of eligibility. He suffered consecutive years of season-ending injuries in 2007 and 2008 after only four games each time, so the NCAA did the right thing here and will allow him to have a true senior campaign. This is a pleasant occurrence for Frank Haith’s team, as Thomas is expected to be a key contributor again this season. He averaged 7/3 and shot an ACC-best 42% from long range in 22 MPG last season.

VCU head coach Shaka Smart received a two-year extension that will keep him at the school through the 2015-16 season. Smart, one of the nation’s youngest head coaches (he’s 33), took the Rams to a 27-9 record and the championship of the CBI in his first season at the helm. It helps to have had a first-rounder in Larry Sanders anchoring the post, but most everyone believes that Smart, an all-USA Today academic team award winner in 1999, will continue to live up to his name.

UNC received some surprising recruiting news earlier this week when Jackson Simmons, a 6’7 forward from Sylva, NC, in the class of 2011, turned down scholarship offers from Davidson, Charlotte and Old Dominion to walk on at his dream school. We have to give it up for the youngster in terms of his due diligence, as he cited as examples several previous Roy Williams walk-ons who worked their way up to scholarships at both UNC and Kansas (Jerod Haase, Wes Miller, CB McGrath).

ESPN announced its Super Tuesdayschedule for the 2010-11 season, and as always, with the release of more and more actual game matchups, our excitement meter ticks another notch upward. Best ST of the season — we’re going with January 25. A strong Florida team visits a surprising Georgia squad in Athens, followed by a top-five Purdue team going into Columbus to face an excellent Buckeye team. Your schedule is below.